Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 66859 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66859 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
“It’s their home you’re invading, they’re not worried about you.”
Nice.
Hugh walks over and stomps his feet. The rats scurry off, disappearing behind furniture and old boxes.
“Seriously?” I cry, throwing my hands up. “Now they’re just hiding until you’re gone again. I have to sleep in here, Hugh. I can’t be snoozing with a rat.”
“No gettin’ rid of them tonight, sorry. We’ll need traps and they’re not going to be available until tomorrow. You’ll just have to get through it.”
“They could be in my room,” I whisper-hiss.
“I’ll check.”
He walks off into my room and, after a few minutes, he comes out. “It’s clear, keep the door locked and stuff something under it. You’ll be fine.”
I shake my head. “I will not be fine. You can’t be serious. Can’t you shoot them?”
“I’m not wastin’ rounds on rats. You’ll be fine. Go to sleep.”
He turns and walks out.
Just like that.
Leaving me with my rat family.
Damn this club.
Damn them all.
1
“This is costin’ me a fuckin’ fortune, you better be onto somethin’ here,” Riggs mutters, watching as I soak thousands of dollar bills in a special solution I have mastered to remove the patterns and symbols off them.
“Normal paper has the wrong consistency,” I say, squinting as I make sure they’re being handled very carefully. “You can’t pass off fake money with shitty paper, the second someone touches it, it’ll be noticeable. You have to make sure it’s the right paper and the way to do that is to use actual money. Nothing more like money ... than money.”
“And the big fuckin’ printer that cost me more than I’m even willing to say out loud?”
I glance at him. “The thing is, there are so many systems in place now for detecting counterfeit money. You can’t be cheap about it. If you’re busted, it’ll come crashing down. You need the best of the best; I have spent years studying this and making money to figure out how it’s done. I have read every article, watched every single thing there is to know about it and tried it out myself. You want to sell this shit, it needs to be perfect.”
“Why are you usin’ old money?”
“Because,” I say, carefully removing the paper from my dissolving solution, “new money has special things in place that can’t be replicated. Old money doesn’t have as many obstacles to get around and is still widely accepted. For that purpose alone, I use it.”
Riggs stares at me, his eyes narrowed. “You’re smarter than you fuckin’ act, you know that?”
I grin. “That’s the point. People always assume, and those assumptions are what get them stomped on.”
“Well, keep it up and we won’t have any more problems.”
“I don’t have much choice,” I say, meeting his gaze. “You’re all keeping me hostage.”
“You rather the cartel keep you hostage? Because you sure as shit pissed them off. It would be just as easy for me to toss you out there to them then to bring trouble to my club. You should think yourself lucky.”
I purse my lips. “You make a valid point. Which bodes the question, why have me here if it’s so much risk to you?”
“Can’t live if you’re not takin’ risks. I figure what you’re bringin’ to us far outweighs what could happen.”
Hmmm, still doesn’t seem like a good enough reason. They must really need this money, otherwise why would you bother?
“Do you think I’m actually safe out here?” I ask, bringing a large sheet of now cleaned paper out of the mixture. “I mean, if they know I’m with the club all it’ll take is for them to follow you.”
“We’ve taken care of it. As far as they know you did a runner and we’re lookin’ for you, too. They won’t be suspicious unless you give them a reason to be. They get hold of you, though, and you’re in some deep shit I’m not goin’ to pull you out of.”
I frown at him. “It’s not like I went out of my way to steal their god damned cash. You could have just given it back to them.”
“Beside the point now, they’re makin’ a show of it. Can’t let anyone see that they’re here to be messed around with. They don’t care about your reasoning, lady. They care about showin’ you who’s boss.”
I roll my eyes. “Men. Doesn’t matter how powerful y’all are, you are constantly working to see who has the biggest dick.”
Riggs glares at me, then turns and walks away without another word.
“Nice chat,” I murmur to myself.
I continue working, wondering where the hell Beckett is. He’s supposed to be here “watching” me but the man hasn’t been around for the last two days. I’m here working my ass off alone. I could be doing it all wrong, pocketing it, anything I like. Riggs came by, but other than that, there has only been a man on guard duties and that’s it.